On December 19, it will have been 20 years since we were transported from Middle-Earth, watching Frodo Baggins make his debut on the big screen in The Fellowship of the Ring. This kicked off the first movie in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is now one of the highest-grossing movie franchises of all time—and we all know why. Combining J.R.R. Tolkien’s compelling fictional storyline with modern film and camera technology has left us with nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece.
In celebration of this anniversary, we took a look at data surrounding the beloved characters we’ve followed on-screen since 2001. Take a look at our map to see which Lord of the Rings character is your state’s favorite!
Interesting Findings
- Frodo and Gollum tied for the most popular character in the nation, each winning over 12 states. Of course, that's aside from the famous ring that caused all of the chaos in the first place.
- Utah and Alaska each had a four-way tie for their favorite character:
- Utah was torn between Sauron, Boromir, Sam, and Merry
- Alaska couldn’t choose between Gandalf, Legolas, Arwen, and Saruman
- Idaho, Missouri, and Vermont had ties for their favorite character
Film Facts
- There were 19,000 costumes created for the movie.
- Sean Astin put on a whopping 30 pounds for his role as Sam.
- Orlando Bloom (Legolas) performed many of his own stunts. He broke a rib at one point during filming.
- In the Mines of Moria where the adventurers encounter the tomb, Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) is filmed from only one side due to an injury on the other side of his face. He had a minor surfing accident prior to filming the scene and the swelling on his face wasn’t able to be covered by makeup.
- Overall, The Fellowship of the Ring was nominated for 152 awards and won 98 of them, including Oscars, Grammy Awards and Golden Globes.
Methodology
We looked at Google Trends search volume data for 15 Lord of the Rings characters to see which was most popular in each state from November 2020 to November 2021.
| State | Character |
| Alabama | Bilbo |
| Alaska | Gandalf/Legolas/Arwen/Saruman |
| Arizona | Bilbo |
| Arkansas | Bilbo |
| California | Gollum |
| Colorado | Frodo |
| Connecticut | Boromir |
| Delaware | Legolas |
| District of Columbia | Galadriel |
| Florida | Frodo |
| Georgia | Gollum |
| Hawaii | Samwise |
| Idaho | Aragorn/Frodo |
| Illinois | Frodo |
| Indiana | Frodo |
| Iowa | Saruman |
| Kansas | Samwise |
| Kentucky | Gollum |
| Louisiana | Gollum |
| Maine | Saruman |
| Maryland | Sauron |
| Massachusetts | Gollum |
| Michigan | Frodo |
| Minnesota | Frodo |
| Mississippi | Bilbo |
| Missouri | Frodo/Bilbo |
| Montana | Gimli |
| Nebraska | Gollum |
| Nevada | Boromir |
| New Hampshire | Pippin |
| New Jersey | Frodo |
| New Mexico | Saruman |
| New York | Gollum |
| North Carolina | Gollum |
| North Dakota | Bilbo |
| Ohio | Gollum |
| Oklahoma | Bilbo |
| Oregon | Galadriel |
| Pennsylvania | Boromir |
| Rhode Island | Frodo |
| South Carolina | Frodo |
| South Dakota | Sauron |
| Tennessee | Bilbo |
| Texas | Gollum |
| Utah | Sauron/Boromir/Samwise/Merry |
| Vermont | Gollum/Bilbo |
| Virginia | Galadriel |
| Washington | Frodo |
| West Virginia | Bilbo |
| Wisconsin | Boromir |
| Wyoming | Gollum |
